


Doll Days

by sugarspuncoeurls



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Female Character of Color, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6196090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarspuncoeurls/pseuds/sugarspuncoeurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Look, if she wants a specially customized, Collector's Edition copy of her fiancé's bod to keep her company in these summer months, she should dang well be able to get one. And said fiancé is just gonna have to deal.</p><p>Domesticity as defined by the future Sheplenkos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doll Days

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: It's exactly like it sounds. All the fluff, and so much domesticity I almost included a white picket fence and a golden retriever. I guess a varren is close enough. Enjoy!
> 
> Warning(s): Some light innuendo and a little potty language. And another cheesy title.

She’s excited.

“He’s gonna love you so much,” she says to the passenger seat, throwing her fellow ‘traveler’ a bright grin before jerking her hands to steady the skycar’s wheel. Bad news if her lack of attention sends her crashing headlong into their home. Kaidan’s worked too hard on it for her to go destroying it, at least not without just cause. She sees him now in the distance, outside on the patio; painting, drilling, hammering, she doesn’t know, but it’s a good, familiar sight these days: him busy at work, clad in well-worn jeans and an even well _er_ -worn t-shirt, brown boots clumping on wood as he steadily makes his way around the house, cataloguing all the things he needs to do to transform the old wooden structure into something _theirs_.

So far, she has to say he’s been pretty damn successful. It took time for him to find his flow; so many years in the great beyond spoiled him a little, made him forget what it was like to spend a day under the sun, sticky with sweat, covered in dirt and dust, and aching from old-fashioned muscle use, not tech and guns but sanders and paint buckets and wood planks. He could have made it so much easier for himself, could have easily bought or rented those service mechs to help or do the work for him; expenses were hardly an obstacle for either of them. He didn’t. Instead, he came in from those first days with splinters, hammer-smashed fingers, and B.O. so bad she almost, _almost_ didn’t welcome him back inside. Instead, he learned, and by the next week, she was hearing more steady hammering than random banging, more content little hums than quiet, caustic curses.

He _likes_ the work, too, she can tell, and thinks that by this point, the tasks he’s set for himself are more therapeutic than anything. It feels good, he says, to create something, to build up rather than take down, dismantle, destroy, kill. She gets it. Thinks he’s selling himself hella short (he’s created a lot, peace for the galaxy and a whole lot of happiness for her and futures for those little biotic kids and big biotic adults he’s been teaching), but gets it. And it makes him happy; that’s all she really needs to know to support him.

And needless to say, he looks nice out there in the elements. It’s Vancouver so it only gets so hot, but he’s out there long enough and works hard enough to get that _glow_ about him, especially in these summer months. It reminds her that at the end of the day, regardless of the years in space or the advanced tech he’s so expert at, Major Kaidan Alenko is an Earth boy, a _country_ boy. And while that’s sometimes really _weird_ to think about, it’s also kinda cool.

With a careful maneuver of the wheel, she directs the car to the empty stretch of concrete to the side of the house, far enough to be out of her hard worker’s way. Of course, she could also support him by throwing on some thick gloves and joining him out here. And she did, for about a week. But see how she said seeing him out here was cool? It’s also, in an ironic flip of words, _hot_. And when she was out in the sun with him, working and laughing and _noticing_ all those cool, hot things, she figured, _what the hell, the grass is soft, right?_ And when she looked up at him from across the plank of wood they were hammering into place, and met his gaze and figured he probably knew what she was considering, only to see him smile that _smile_ …

The grass wasn’t as soft as she’d assumed it would be. It pricked at her knees and left indentations on his back, and the green stains that ended up on their clothing took two cycles and three spot treatments to get out. To top it off, thanks to their impromptu romp, they lost the rest of the day to work, which put Kaidan behind on his schedule to finish the patio by the end of that week.

That night, while cooking up dinner, he put his arms around her, kissed her forehead like he so loved to do, and laughingly but _seriously_ suggested she _not_ join him outside again. She couldn’t even argue.

Urz ended up replacing her. Smart as she is, it wasn’t all _that_ insulting, and the sight of the varren faithfully following Kaidan around the yard with the toolbox secured between her strong jaws was worth her own exile. She settled for watching from a distance and providing lunch and emotional support, and couldn’t help but admit the niceness of, for once, standing on the sidelines and being cheerleader, cute skirt included.

She hopes with her impromptu little purchase, the trend will continue.

As she parks and prepares to open the driver’s side door, Kaidan comes around the corner and waves, shucking the gloves from his hands. She grins and returns the gesture, grabbing the bag in the passenger seat with anticipation before climbing out. “Hey.”

“Welcome home.” The first thing he always says when she returns from wherever she’s gone. She’s surprised, though, when he immediately clasps her hand, his eyes dancing. “Come with me.”

“Oooookay.” She tilts her head, allowing the gentle pull of her arm. “To where?”

“You’ll see.”

He takes her around the side of the house, dodging shiny silver tools and buckets of paint. All nicely ordered, of course; rugged carpenter he may now be, but Kaidan Alenko is no slob. Even the wood he’s used is organized by shape and size and kept well out of the way of vulnerable toes and rare bouts of incoordination. Urz meets them halfway, the low growl vibrating in her throat almost purr-like as Neo’s hand finds the hard crest of her head and pats once, twice, thrice, “this is it?”

Kaidan’s stopped right in front of the house. He plants his feet into the green grass and looks at her expectantly, eyes still boogying, the smile on his lips bright and anticipatory. “This is it,” he confirms, and waits.

Huh. She’s waiting, too.

She almost looks to Urz for a hint, but knows it wouldn’t help. It took her months to parse out Captain’s little rodent expressions; she’s pretty sure a few precious seconds won’t be _quite_ long enough to figure out a varren’s. No, she’ll have to do this on her own. Find hints, piece out the unfamiliar, and put together the picture her fiancé so wants her to see, all before he realizes she’s seeing _nothing_.

_Okay. Grass. We’re standing **in** the grass. Trees in the background, too far away to be anything important. Close it in. Us, again. Me, with this bag. Him, looking **really** **good** in that tool belt. No, focus. Away from ass, away from crotch, just…away. Look forward. Tools, wood, red paint, nice color, looks good, like the pic he showed me when he first started working on the porch, with the old-fashioned door and the pretty window that you couldn’t really see through, and the…_

_The porch. The **porch**._

“You finished the porch!” she exclaims, grin spreading wide as she whips her head around, micros slapping her cheeks hard enough to sting. Kaidan’s still looking at her, his smile devolved to a smirk, that thick black eyebrow raised in that way that says, _that took you way too long._ She ignores it and opens her arms to him. “Babe, that’s great!”

He gives her the look for a few seconds longer before he accepts her invite, his arms wrapping warm around her as she splays her hands over his shoulders. The congratulatory kiss she lights on his lips is overdue; if “welcome home” is the first thing said when one of them returns, a welcome kiss is the first thing _done_ , always with the intent of acknowledging that they’re not really, truly ‘home’ until they can touch, make contact. Which tells her that he was probably so excited to show her his completed project that he purposely forwent that small, admittedly still new tradition until they’d, together, basked in his triumph.

Well, dang. Guilt Trip: Vancouver Biotic Edition. Coming soon to a sucky girlfriend near you.

“Thanks,” he’s saying. The amusement in his tone, a sweet huff of air against her mouth, makes her think he’s reading her mind, sensing that complex building up behind her joy. When they part and their eyes meet, she decides she’s right, and that he’s probably already forgiven her the hiccup. Which kinda makes the guilt worse, but… “Want me to show you what you’re supposed to be seeing?”

They know each other by now. Give her a ship and she’ll tell its story down to the rock that housed the alloy that went into the creation of the hull. Give her a vid game and she’ll reach the top of the leadership boards by the end of the day (for the record, she’s currently dominating the latest installment of Armax Battle Royale). Give her some funky lipstick and a bottle of glitter, and she’ll make a masterpiece out of her face.

Give her a porch, and be reminded that the indomitable Commander Shepard is indeed very, _very_ human.

In other words? “Please.”

Kaidan takes her hand again and puts on his proverbial genius cap. As he guides her gently around his achievement, he points out all those little qualities she wouldn’t’ve noticed, like the criss-crossing of the boards that gives the structure extra stability, the super-shine oil finish that’ll protect against the rain, and the color, one she pointed to one random day at the hardware store and said she liked, a passing comment _she_ forgot that he, of course, didn’t.

A swing. He built them a frickin’ swing.

When he’s done being perfect, they sit themselves down on the steps leading up to the door, knees and the lengths of their thighs touching as they look out over acres of green. “You’re amazing. You know that right?” she says, her shoulder bumping into his until he chuckles and briefly wraps an arm around her, his lips planting one on her forehead.

“Not amazing, just dedicated. And yes, I forgive your inattention to what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks.”

“I paid attention when things didn’t sound right,” she tries half-heartedly to explain. “Cursing, kicking, silence; that’s when I needed to know what was going on.” She shrugs. “But for a long time, there’s been nothing but hammering and humming. I got so used to it I figured it would go on forever.”

Kaidan’s lips purse. “Thanks.”

“Not what I meant!” She laughs when _he_ bumps _her_ shoulder this time. “I mean you just seemed happy to be doing whatever you were doing. I didn’t wanna get in the way and mess with your groove. Again.” She looks up at him. “Figured you’d show what you wanted to show me _when_ you wanted to show me. And you did. And I love it.”

His smile warms. “Even the swing?”

“Especially the swing. That swing’s gonna get a lot of action. Your choice as to what kind.”

“That…would be an experience.”

“I’m all about experience, Mr. Alenko. Just tell me what to wear.”

He laughs. “I promise I’ll let you know. But speaking of…” Kaidan indicates the spot on her other side, where her bag lounges against her other knee. “Looks like you’ve had an experience of your own. What’d you buy?”

Her excitement returns all at once at the reminder. “Wait ‘til you see this,” she says, grabbing the bag and reaching her hand inside. “You know how we saved the galaxy and all?”

“I think I’m familiar with that, yes.”

“Well, in true celebrity fashion, some folks thought it’d be cool to make merchandise.” With an anticipatory waggle of her eyebrows and a flourish of her hand, Neo whips out her surprise buy.

Funny, she thinks later, how Kaidan’s reaction to it is about the same as the one she had to the porch.

“Huh,” he says. It’s scary how similar they can be sometimes.

“You like him?” She squeezes her fingers around slim square hips and lovingly-rendered armor-plated thighs. They really did do a fantastic job.

“Uh…yeah.”

“He looks a _lot_ like you, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he does.”

Some guidance of her own might be needed here. Neo knocks her knee into his. “Wanna hold him?”

“Uh…” A tiny moment’s silence. “Sure.”

It’s a slow exchange from her hand to his. At her request, he takes his gloves off first, his brow furrowing slightly when the object makes its way into his possession. He doesn’t look disturbed, per say, but rather…morbidly curious? – as he turns it over in his hands, examining, like she did, just how deep the details go.

Pretty damn deep, if she’s any judge.

“So,” he begins. “It’s an…action figure?”

“Yeah,” she answers. “Well, I was calling him a doll, but I guess your word fits better.”

“An action figure…of me.”

Her grin widens. “Figure that out on your own?” she teases, and points a finger at the figure’s face. “I thought the eyebrows and pompadoed hair made it obvious.”

Kaiden smiles. “Silly me for not noticing.” Acting a little like he’s holding a piece of prototype tech, he turns the doll over again, noting, she thinks, the impressively accurate amp plugged into the back of his skull. “Where’d you, uh, find him?” he asks.

“I was walking the strip and saw him in a window. ‘Normandy Hero and Second Human Spectre: Alliance Major Kaidan Alenko!’” she theatrically recites, a snicker half-ruining the effect. “The Collector’s Edition, apparently. I was skeptical ‘til I saw the lip scar.” She points again. “Right there.”

“Wow.” Kaidan squints his eyes. “That’s…accurate.”

"It’n it? That’s what made me get him.” She leans forward and levels her arm on his shoulder, her chin propping on her bicep and her gaze glancing over his profile before she drops it back to her newest collectible. “Be honest. Are you creeped?”

Kaidan lifts his eyes from the tiny switch she’s pretty sure will make the little major’s “biotics” start up. When they meet her own, warm dark to darker, he chuckles.

“No, I’m not creeped.”

“Good.” With smooth fingers, she steals the doll from him and stands him on her knee, lifts one of his arms and points it at his life-sized twin. “Cuz he’s my company ‘til you get back from tour.”

Kaidan looks between the two of them before letting out a burst of short, surprised laughter. “Is that why you bought him? Because I’m leaving?”

“Partly,” she admits easily. “Two months is a good while to go without seeing your biotic bod. The other reason is cuz he was cute.” She lifts the little man to bop that extended arm on the larger man’s nose.

“Cute enough to be my substitute for two months?” He sounds unconvinced. Neo smirks.

“Don’t think you have much room to critique, Major.” She bops him again, drawing a chuckle. “What’s the company’s big mission this time around, anyway?”

“Ah.” Kaidan shifts, brow furrowing slightly as he recalls. “A commune seems to have opened up on the edges of the Terminus Systems, in the Valhallan Threshold. It’s been gaining attention for all the biotics it’s attracting to its doors.”

She blinks, feeling a hit of déjà vu. “Like the one Kyle was running?”

“Would be, if surveillance footage didn’t show the ringleaders focusing specifically on combat training their recruits. We’re not sure exactly what’s going on, so we’ll be doing some more reconnaissance, but it’s fairly safe to assume they’re aiming for more than just a peaceful existence out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Think you can get them to disband without force if it turns out to be bad?”

“That’s our aim.” Kaidan smiles at her. “I remember how you handled Major Kyle. Diplomacy, minimal firepower, a meeting on neutral terms with a priority not to engage the converts. I’m hoping something similar will work here, if it comes to it.”

“That _you’re_ all biotics, too, will help.”

“That’s what we figured. With any luck-”

“And your awesome leader skills,” she interjects. Kaidan smiles.

“-we’ll all walk out alright.”

“Do the others know about it?”

“I got the official report this morning and have already passed it along. They should be keyed in on the details by now.”

“Sounds like you’re set, then.”

“Almost.” Maneuvering her arm from his shoulder, Kaidan rises and walks the short distance to the swing set. With a soft plunk onto one side of the seat, he pats the remaining space next to him. “My goal was to finish the porch before I had to ship out. Against all odds, I actually managed to do it.” He smiles as she approaches, then laughs when, because she _had_ to, she plops down onto the swing hard enough and wild enough to get it moving, their feet leaving the shiny wood underneath to sway in the air.

She freaking _loves_ it.

“Now that it’s done,” he continues, once they’ve found a balance between them and the swing is a vehicle powered by the light push of their legs, “I have a new goal.”

“What?” Neo asks, fitting herself under the arm he offers, one hand wrapped snug around her newest companion while the other maps the familiar terrain of her fiancé’s thigh. Kaidan’s fingers bury themselves in her braids, his temple coming to lie against her forehead, his smile felt as they watch Urz make a resting spot for herself near the porch railing (yeah, he built that, too).

“Enjoy it.”

* * *

 

She wakes in the early morning one week later to a muffled sensation of touch. When she cracks her eyes open, it’s still dark, the comforter that was tangled around her – their – legs now neatly tucked around her form. When she tosses a blurry glance to Kaidan’s side of the bed, she finds it empty, and then starts when that touch comes again, clearer, and a voice sounds right above her, intimately close. “Right here, sweetheart.”

In a flash of remembrance, she groans. “Already?”

Kaidan chuckles. “‘fraid so.”

“But ‘m not awake.” She shifts, twisting the blankets around her naked torso until she’s on her back, squinting up into her favorite pair of pretty brown eyes. She watches as they crinkle in amusement. “I was s’posed to see you off with m’eyes open.”

“They’re not open now?”

“No.” She grins, lips curling lazily upward. “Too much good lovin’, all worn out. No energy.”

Kaidan hums. “Would you be upset if I said that was the plan?”

If she wasn’t still showing signs of the bliss-out he’d given her earlier that night? Probably. Under the circumstances, though, maybe not so much. She snorts, though, in answer, just for the heck of it. “You and your plans.”

“Me and my plans,” she hears him repeat, before his mouth settles over hers. She lifts her arms just high enough to flop around his crisp-lapelled neck, a sloppy attempt to keep him in her orbit a little longer, happiness sounding from her throat when she’s indulged, feels the stroke of his hand along the contours of her face as his kiss deepens and warms her through.

Too soon, though, he’s peppering pecks over her cheeks and chin and nose, a sure sign that he’s leaving and getting in as much _her_ as he can before he goes. “I love you,” he murmurs, “I’ll miss you.” He grins and presses a firm kiss to her forehead. “Enjoy the swing.”

“And?” she asks, eyebrows lifting expectantly. Kaidan sighs, smile resigned as he kisses her again.

“And Li’Lenko.”

“Theeeere you go.” Their new friend’s name sounds best coming from him. She curls her fingers into his shoulders, resisting the always-urge to muss up the coiffed perfection of his hair. “Stay safe…”

“If and when I can.”

“Tell the squad I say ‘hey’…”

“As soon as I see them.”

“And keep me up to date.”

“Always.”

“Good.” Damn if she doesn’t like that routine, even if she hates when it comes time to go through it. With a reluctant sigh, she pats his shoulders. “Guess you’re free to go, then. Love you, too.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Liar.”

“I know. But I’ll try.” His last kiss lingers on her lips like his warmth does on her skin after he’s finally gone. She listens to the heavy thump of his boots on the wood flooring – purposely louder than it could be at her behest, so she can follow – with her ear cocked, a raspberry blowing out in the resulting silence when the front door downstairs opens and definitively closes with a soft _click_ and _whirr_ of the automatic lock. “And then there was one,” she mutters, her short minute of wakefulness already counting down as drowsiness returns. “Urz,” she calls, rolling and stretching to grab Kaidan’s pillow and place it atop her own, only to stop when she looks, clearly this time, to his side of the bed.

Li’Lenko sits up against the pillow, his little solder’s body softly banded with blue light and covered to the waist with the comforter. And next to him? Another doll, shorter and smaller and darker, clothed in black and red-pink N7 armor, her textured hair styled in a way she hasn’t seen – no, worn – since her final ‘fuck you’ to the Reapers.

 _Took a quick trip out to the strip and saw her in a window_ , the little sticky note on her reads. _Was skeptical until I saw the immaculate baby hairs. Keep her safe for me; she’s part of a very important set. Love, the original, Big Alenko_

She swears she’s still laughing when he pings her later that evening.


End file.
